ABT fall season - The Tempest and more

Last Sunday afternoon, I met my impossibly handsome ballet buddy at Lincoln Center to enjoy an afternoon of ABT's fall season.  When the announcement for the season came out, I wrestled with which ballets to see (although we knew we wanted to see the new Ratmansky version of The Tempest), so we finally decided on two other pieces we hadn't seen before: Twyla Tharp's Bach Partita and Mark Morris' Gong.  I think we made an excellent choice.

As we settled into our seats, I found one of those distressing white slips of paper in the playbill.  Thankfully, it was just reversing the order of two of the ballets and not announcing a replacement dancer.  Not that I don't enjoy nearly all of the ABT company - I just don't want anyone to be injured.  After seeing the first piece, I could see why the last two pieces were reversed.  One dancer had a big role in both of them and I'm sure they wanted him to have a few minutes to breathe between dances.  

First up was the Tharp.  Set to the Bach Partita for solo violin, it's a lovely, complex piece with gorgeous, stunning dancing.  The solo violinist, Charles Yang, was wonderful.  With six principals, fourteen soloists and a sudden appearance by sixteen corps ballerinas, there is a lot of movement and variety on the stage.  Marcelo Gomes and Gillian Murphy were beautifully paired - sometimes she just seems to pirouette forever with no effort at all, and he is, of course, perfection.  As always.  :)   I also enjoyed the two other principal couples - Polina Semionova and James Whiteside, and Stella Abrera and Calvin Royal III.  There weren't many opportunites for Polina to showcase her amazing neck and back, but she was lovely nonetheless.  James is a vigorous presence and a very attentive partner.  Stella is just delicate and lovely, with beautiful arms and turns.  Calvin Royal, while a pleasant dancer, I think is still trying to find his little something extra.  But if ABT keeps giving him opportunities for lead roles, I'm sure he'll find it.

 

Photo: Ines Laimins

I admit that though I enjoy beautiful dancing for beautiful dancing's sake, I couldn't help comparing this choreography set to Bach to the Paul Taylor pieces I've seen recently.  Whereas the Taylor pieces find the elemental and the undercurrent of what it means to be a human in space, I felt the Tharp skipped the surface and sat on top of the music.  It was beautiful to look at, but I didn't really think about it again afterward.  Not that that means anything.  Just a comment from the peanut gallery.

Photo: Rosalie O'Connor

After an exceedingly long intermission, we were treated to Mark Morris' Gong.  I LOVED IT.  Gorgeously costumed by Isaac Mizrahi, and set to music by Colin McPhee, Gong is just stunning exuberance and beautiful stage pictures.  The lighting by Michael Chybowski also plays a big role in this dance and it was first-rate.  There was one point during the opening movement where I just held my breath and felt tears come into my eyes at how lovely everything was onstage.  But, as we all know, everything is beautiful at the ballet...

There were two pas de deux that were done without music - I don't quite know why, but they were very striking moving through the silence.  And the moment the sixteen ballerinas swoop in is breathtaking.  If they were a little out of unision later on, well, ok.  I just loved this piece (and my very favorite ballerina, Julie Kent, was also stunning in her solo work) and can't wait to see it again.  I want to wear one of those costumes for Halloween next year...

Photo: Andrea Mohin

After another exceedingly long intermission, we finally saw the premiere of Alexei Ratmansky's The Tempest.  We saw the second cast, with Cory Stearns as Prospero.  I find him to be an elegant and rather stalwart dancer, but lacking in "it."  He sort of was the same in The Tempest, though I don't imagine it's all his fault.

Photo: Andrea Mohin

I know Shakespeare's play, I've been in it, I've read it, and yet, I was confused at times.  There was a dramaturg credit, but...I don't know.  The flashbacks weren't clearly delineated and maybe Ratmansky tried to cram in too many plot points in a 45-minute ballet.  So it was never static and was always moving, but yet it still seemed inert.  The solos for Prospero didn't really comment on character and didn't really move the plot forward.  The solos for Ariel and Caliban were much more character-driven and were more successful, though Caliban has no real arc here.  The pas de deux for Miranda and Ferdinand were very nice and Jared Matthew's Ferdinand was especially fine.  The comic characters were appropriately comic, but they were shuttled on and shuttled off so quickly, it was a bit jarring. 

The Sibelius score didn't really help dramatize anything for me.  It's lovely music and the New York Choral Society was used effectively, but it was all rather one note with no real highs and lows to grab attention.  I don't know - maybe this is a piece that needs more than one viewing to really be appreciated.  I'm not sure that I'd want to see it again, unfortunately.  I'll have to think on it.  But I have loved Ratmansky's work before, so I should probably give him another chance.

I had hoped to go back and see three of the other ballets, but I'm headed to Los Angeles instead.  I'm trying to talk my impossibly handsome ballet buddy into writing a guest post and reporting on next Sunday's matinee.  Let's see how it goes...